Enshrouded: How to Build the Workbench for the Building Shelter Quest

The Building Shelter quest asks you to “Craft Or Obtain A Workbench” at your first Flame Altar base on the Plains. You make the Workbench yourself from the Crafting tab, but it depends on a short chain of materials, so you gather first, craft a few things by hand, then place the bench inside your base.

Quick answer: Open Essentials under the Crafting tab and make a Workbench by hand using 3 String and 8 Wood Logs. Cutting Wood Logs requires an Axe, which also costs String.

What you need before crafting the Workbench

Gather materials near the Flame Altar to get started. Turn Plant Fiber into String (our String and Plant Fiber guide covers both in more detail), and use an Axe to fell trees for Wood Logs. Since you need String for both the Axe and Workbench, make four String altogether.

12 Plant Fiber — makes 4 String (each String needs 3 Plant Fiber).
4 Twigs and 1 Stone — for the Axe, which also takes 1 String.
8 Wood Logs — cut from a tree; one tree can drop 12.

Craft and place the Workbench

Check the quest. The tracker in the top right reads “BUILDING SHELTER – Craft Or Obtain A Workbench”, which appears at the Flame Altar once Oswald the Blacksmith arrives.

Quest tracker reading Building Shelter, Craft Or Obtain A Workbench, at the Flame Altar — The Building Shelter quest tracker shows Craft Or Obtain A Workbench at the Flame Altar.

Find leafy bushes or plants growing on the ground near the altar. Face one and press E to pick it; a toast on the left immediately reports the items collected. A single press may yield “Twigs” and “Plant Fiber x2”, while certain bushes can also provide Twigs or Stone.

HUD showing the Craft Or Obtain A Workbench objective while picking grass for Twigs and Plant Fiber — Picking bushes near the Flame Altar drops Twigs and Plant Fiber while the Workbench objective stays on the tracker.

Make String manually from the crafting menu. Press I, select the CRAFTING tab (V), then open Supplies – Utility. The String (Materials) recipe uses 3 Plant Fiber for 1 String. Press SPACE for a craft or SHIFT + SPACE for x10. Produce four String to cover the Axe and Workbench costs.

Crafting menu with String selected, showing the Plant Fiber requirement at 2 of 3 — String sits under Supplies – Utility in the Crafting tab and lists its Plant Fiber requirement.

Craft the Axe. In the same CRAFTING tab, open the Essentials section. Axe (Tools, Level 1) needs 4 Twigs, 1 Stone, and 1 String. Press SPACE to craft it, and it lands in slot 1 of your action bar.

Crafting menu with the Axe selected, listing Twigs 4, Stone 1 and String 1 — The Axe recipe in the Essentials section of the Crafting tab: 4 Twigs, 1 Stone and 1 String.

Equip the Axe and check its hint: “LMB Cut tree / RMB Block”. Move up against a trunk and repeatedly press the left mouse button until it topples.

Axe equipped next to a tree ready to chop for Wood Logs — With the Axe equipped, strike the trunk with the left mouse button until the tree comes down.

Collect the loot. When the tree is down, the prompt “E Collect nearby loot” appears. Hold E to gather everything that dropped. One tree gave Wood Logs x12, Resin x2, and Twigs x2, along with a “RECIPE UNLOCKED! Mana Drain I (+1 more)” banner. Twelve logs covers the eight the bench needs.

Loot toast showing Wood Logs x12, Resin x2 and Twigs x2 after felling a tree at night — Holding E after the tree falls collected Wood Logs x12, Resin x2 and Twigs x2.

Craft the Workbench. Back in the CRAFTING tab, Essentials section, pick Workbench (Furniture, Common). It needs 3 String (Manual Crafting) and 8 Wood Logs. Press SPACE to craft.

Crafting menu with the Workbench recipe selected, listing String 3/3 and Wood Logs 12/8 as required resources. — The Crafting menu in Enshrouded shows the Workbench recipe under Essentials, needing String and Wood Logs.

Place the bench. Select the Workbench slot on the action bar. A blue see-through preview appears in front of you with “LMB Place”, and a panel on the right lists R Rotate 90 degrees, R + mouse wheel Rotate, fine-tune rotation and position toggles, X Use Snapping, and “Flame protected area” with Z First Person Mode. Press the left mouse button to set it down inside the Flame protected area, such as on the stone path beside the Flame Altar.

Blue Workbench placement preview on a stone path with Place, Rotate and Snapping controls — Selecting the Workbench shows a blue preview; press the left mouse button to place it, R rotates it 90 degrees.

How to confirm the quest step is done

Crafting the bench triggers a “RECIPE UNLOCKED! Glider (+5 more) at Workbench” banner and updates the tracker to “Craft Or Obtain Rough Stone/Wood Blocks”, showing that the Workbench objective is done. Approach the bench and press E to begin using it; the WORKBENCH crafting tab opens alongside MANUAL CRAFTING and BACKPACK tabs.

Player with an axe stands on cobblestones before a stone Flame altar, with a recipe unlocked notice at left. — A recipe unlock notice for Glider (+5 more) at Workbench appears beside the Flame altar, with the Building Shelter quest shown.

What the Workbench unlocks

The WORKBENCH tab holds the sections Essentials, Blocks, Roof Blocks, Road Blocks, and Comfort Furniture. Essentials opens with the Construction Hammer (Blueprints; requires Workbench; Stone 1) along with storage chests. Blocks – Stone and Blocks – Wood craft x100 at a time, Roof Blocks x50, and Road Blocks x10 across three kinds. The next quest step, Craft Or Obtain Rough Stone/Wood Blocks, is made right here.

Under Comfort Furniture – Basic Comfort, the Crude Mattress is available as the first bed. It requires a Workbench, 3 String, 4 Torn Cloth, and 4 Plant Fiber. Oswald the Blacksmith requests a bed, and the Summoning Staff can assign one to him (see how to keep Oswald in place with the Summoning Staff).